


Miracle

by Neptunium134



Category: Midsomer Murders - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Jamie Winter, Hurt/Comfort, I promise, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:07:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29586309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neptunium134/pseuds/Neptunium134
Summary: A slight AU of "I May Fall"When DC Dan Scott meets 10-year-old Jamie Winter in the hospital, he takes a liking to the young boy who had been through too much. With the boy's parents in prison, he takes Jamie under his wing and adopts him.
Relationships: Dan Scott & Jamie Winter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> Muhahaha, welcome to yet another Midsomer story by yours truly
> 
> So it's a slight AU of another one of my stories- "I May Fall"- with slight alterations. Jamie's siblings don't exist and neither does his uncle, so his parents are his only family.  
> Important thing to note (and please to remind me if I don't stick to that, I do have a tendency to waffle and forget my plotline, heh)
> 
> Anyway, if you're here, I bet you're here for a good dosing of angst and some family fluff, and you're in luck. I'm sure we'll all get a good dose of angst in the first few chapters (she says...)

Detective Constable Daniel Scott watched as Ignacio and Caitlin Winter were taken away to Cambridge Police Station in separate police cars.

The Winter’s neighbour, Charlie Bonnetain, stood next to him, their arms folded over their chest, fury raging in their dark brown eyes. It was Bonnetain who had called the ambulance two nights ago, reporting sounds of a fight coming from their neighbour’s house, initially assuming the Winters had an intruder.

It wasn’t until the initial officers got there did they realise the true nature of what was happening.

Caitlin Winter was standing over her son’s body, blood-covered knife in her hand. Her son- Jamie, Bonnetain called him- was unconscious, covered in smaller cuts and bruises from whatever scuffle had happened beforehand, blood gushing from a wound in his stomach, almost certainly made by the knife Caitlin was holding.

With Caitlin and Ignacio taken to the police station, Dan hopped into his car and drove to the hospital.

It was a half-hour drive to Addenbrooke’s Hospital from Moonlight Avenue where the Winter’s house was, the radio station playing Westlife’s ‘ _I Have A Dream_ ’, the Christmas Number One from a couple of years ago, Dan subconsciously humming along. He’d always had a liking for the Irish band, not that it was something he’d admit out loud.

He pulled up outside Addenbrooke’s and pulled into a parking space, sitting silently behind the wheel for a moment, unsure of how _exactly_ to proceed. 

Would he be able to visit the child despite not being a family member? Did Jamie have any other family? Were they as bad as his parents?

Thoughts swirled around Dan’s head as he locked his car door and headed for the main reception, stepping through the doors and making his way to the front desk.

The receptionist smiled up at him. “Good evening, how may I help you?” She asked, the slight hint of exhaustion creeping into her voice not discerning from her friendly tone.

Dan cleared his throat slightly. “Um, I wanted to ask about James Winter? He was brought in maybe half an hour ago for a stab wound?”

“Friend or family member?”

“Um, actually, I’m DC Scott, I’m working on the case.”

The receptionist frowned. “And his parents?”

“In custody, we have evidence to believe they were behind the stabbing.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened and she tapped on her keyboard. “He’s in surgery at the minute, but I’ll send a message down for the doctor to speak to you when he’s out. Please, take a seat.”

“Thank you.” Dan nodded and sat down in one of the plastic waiting-room chairs.

About half an hour later he was wishing he’d brought his book in with him. He had one in his car, but he didn’t want to leave in case Jamie came out of surgery.

So he flicked through a couple of leaflets left strewed about the waiting room, not really paying attention to the information on the pages.

“DC Scott?” A voice asked and Dan looked up, getting to his feet upon seeing a woman dressed in green scrubs. She held out her hand for Dan to shake. “I’m Mrs Bowden, the lead surgeon on James Winter. I was told to speak to you when he was in recovery?”

“Ah, yes. How is he?” Dan pulled his notepad out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

“He’s lucky. The knife went into his stomach, but it missed his spine, so we don’t believe there’ll be any nerve or spinal damage. We managed to stop the internal bleeding and close the wound. He’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few days, though, to recover. He may also need therapy, getting stabbed is a very traumatic experience.” Mrs Bowden explained as they walked through the halls of the hospital.

“I can imagine,” Dan murmured as Mrs Bowden stopped outside a door.

“He’s awake, but he’s currently on morphine, so he’ll be a bit groggy for a while.”

Dan nodded and Mrs Bowden pushed open the door to the room.

The room was relatively small, painted in pastel blues and greens. There was a floor-to-ceiling window spanning the far side of the room with a 2-seat light green sofa situated in front of it.

Despite the warm and inviting look of the room, the atmosphere was solemn. A nurse was recording the readings of the various machines on a clipboard, Mrs Bowden moved to the bed and was murmuring gently to its occupant.

The surgeon gestured to Dan to come further into the room, turning back to the child in the bed. “This is DC Dan Scott, he’s here to help. He wants to ask you some questions about what happened, okay? He’s not going to hurt you.”

Dan walked slowly around to the foot of the bed, biting back a gasp as he took in the child’s appearance.

James- _Jamie_ \- was incredibly pale, almost as pale as the bedsheets he was swaddled in. An assortment of wires and tubes were attached to his body, leading to different machines on either side of the bed, and Dan could make out a bundle of bandages under the loose hospital gown that swathed the boy.

The child looked exhausted, his face wearing a similar look Dan had seen on his DCI, a man who had served the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for more than thirty years and had celebrated his fiftieth birthday the month before. It wasn’t a look a 10-year-old boy should be wearing.

Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, Dan plastered what he hoped was a reassuring smile on his face and flipped to a new page in his notepad.

“Hi Jamie,” He started. “I know today’s been tough and you’re tired, but if you could just answer a few questions, for now, we can get the case closed as soon as possible.”

Jamie nodded, fatigue heavy on his face.

Dan winced internally. He, too, would love nothing more than to let the poor boy sleep off the remnants of his surgery and do the interrogation at a later date, but conduct required him to get a victim statement.

“Alright, I’m going to ask you some questions based on what your neighbour told us, and you just need to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, okay?”

Nod.

“Did your mother stab you?”

“Y-yes.”

Dan stopped himself from inhaling deeply. It certainly wasn’t the first case of child abuse he’d investigated, and it wasn’t the first that ended with the child in hospital, or... worse, in one case, but it made no difference. 

How could a parent hate their child so much they would take a knife to them? To try and _kill_ them? It was the one thing Dan just couldn’t understand about human nature.

That and why slinkys were so goddamn fun to push down the stairs.

Dan quickly scribbled a note in his notepad- _mother_ _did it_ \- and looked back up at Jamie.

“Was your father present when your mother stabbed you?”

Another nod.

“He didn’t do anything to stop her?”

A shake this time.

“And you’re ten, correct?”

Jamie nodded.

God, to stab a ten-year-old…

Some people were truly heartless.

Unsure of how to continue, Dan closed his notepad. “That should be enough for today, thank you. I’ll pop back in tomorrow and see if you’re up to give a full statement, okay?”

A final, tired nod came from the boy and Dan gave him another small smile before he left the room.

He leaned his forehead against the wall next to the door. 

It was an open-and-shut case. They just needed Jamie to give a full statement that could be used in court in order to sentence his parents.

He took his head off the wall and left the hospital, driving to the station to report to his senior officer and log off for the night.

  
  


Inside the hospital, a ten-year-old boy lay in a hospital bed, staring out the window at the stars.

A shooting star shot past his window and the boy closed his eyes, gently murmuring out a wish.

A wish to be free.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully this story'll be less angst-focused and more family fluff, but we will get some angst. 
> 
> But again, what I plan and what ends up being written are two different things.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and I'll see you in the next one!
> 
> Check out my Tumblr for updates- @Neptunium134- and my test reader- @Midsomer4Life, whom you may already know (we come as a pair)


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